The Federal Reserve raising interest rates by 0.75% last week is a double whammy for Californians who are already struggling with rising fuel costs, according to a candidate for state assembly.
“People are hurting because now they're not only paying higher gas prices, but they're also paying higher grocery prices and everything else is going up at the same time,” said California Assembly Candidate Bill Essayli who was the top Republican vote-getter for the new 63rd District during the June 7 primary.
The average fuel price is $6.401 per gallon in California compared to the nationwide average of $4.983, according to AAA.
“The gas prices can be dealt with on the supply side if we just increase production here within the United States and in particular in California where we have oil that will bring the prices down but right now we've tightened up supply and the prices are skyrocketing,” Essayli told the Southern California Record. “The Democrats are blaming the oil companies when really it's their fault for canceling all the leases, the pipelines, and curbing domestic production.”
The Federal Reserve increased the cost of borrowing in order to rein in inflation, however Essayli predicts the hike will make money more expensive overall.
“That’s how you curb inflation is by increasing interest rates but, in the meantime, it’s going to hurt people who are looking to buy a home and it does have a negative impact on people and their finances however it's the only way to curb inflation," he said.
Inflation is at a 40-year high and 0.75% is the largest increase in the federal reserve rate in 28 years, according to media reports.
“They raised it not because they wanted to but because they had to,” Essayli added. “This is a lesson to Democrats and what happens when you spend money that you don't have and you print and pump so much money, millions, billions and trillions, into the economy. The result is massive inflation, and they keep trying to blame it on Putin and Russia and all these other things when they hold the blame. It's them.”